A group of medical marijuana caregivers wants to open up a shop to dispense marijuana to their patients in Ferndale at a former party store on East Nine Mile.

The company, called Meridian Wellness, is seeking approval to operate from the Ferndale City Council on Monday.

“We’re going to see on Monday what the requirements are for the facility and that the applicant has met them,” said Mayor Dave Coulter. “Ferndale supports the concept of medical marijuana and supports facilities like this if they are operating legally.”

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The city’s Planning Commission has approved Meridian Wellness’ site plan, which is to be located at 1915 E. Nine Mile Road several blocks west of Interstate 75.

Derek Delacourt, head of Ferndale’s Community and Economic Development department, told Planning Commission members last month that the company will allow no marijuana use at the facility.

In a memo to City Council members Delacourt said city staff members are satisfied the proposed operation meets the requirements of city ordinances and state law.

The company would have three registered medical marijuana caregivers dispensing marijuana to a total of 15 patients.

Ferndale Police Chief Timothy Collins said Friday he has no opinion about whether having the company open a facility in Ferndale is a good idea or not.

“They have found a way to use the law and not be a dispensary,” he said. “They are like a safety deposit company for caregivers. They rent space for a caregiver to dispense medical marijuana to their patients.”

Plans that the company’s members submitted to the city show they will have separate safes for the caregivers to store medical marijuana for patients. Each caregiver would have five separate locked safes for each patient, according to paperwork the applicants filed with the city.

“You can’t have a dispensary,” under state law, Collins said. “If you are a caregiver you can have up to five patients and that’s it.”

A marijuana dispensary, Clinical Relief, opened in Ferndale in the summer of 2010. Oakland County Sheriff’s narcotics agents raided Clinical Relief in August 2010 and arrested seven people on marijuana charges. Their case was dismissed in Oakland County Circuit Court, but county prosecutors had the dismissal overturned by the Michigan Court of Appeals last September, opening the door for another criminal trial.

However, Southfield attorney Neil Rockind, who represents one of the owners of Clinical Relief, said Friday the defendants are first appealing their case to the Michigan Supreme Court.

Adam Applebaum, CEO of Meridian Wellness, is also an owner of Dirty Decks, a Livonia deck cleaning and restoration business, according to his Linkedin page.

He told city planning officials last month the medical marijuana facility will have cameras, locks and safes and no one would be allowed at the Ferndale location without an appointment, according to city documents from the meeting.

One Planning Commission member at the meeting said a resident was worried about drugs or robberies in the neighborhood near the proposed site for the medical marijuana facility. Collins, records show, said no matter how good the operators’ plan is, that is one thing they can’t control.

Still, Collins added that the operators have been open and honest and will give police access to the facility.

“The Planning Commission is giving a recommendation for the medical marijuana facility,” Coulter said. “It’s a complicated issue because there haven’t been clear guidelines and direction in the past for what is required of these facilities.”